Homemade Strawberry Sorbet

It's summer, at least in the northern hemisphere, and what's better on a hot summer day than a lovely bowl of homemade sorbet??? Well, there may be lots of better things, but I really do love homemade sorbet.  

I came across a new recipe on Design Sponge a few weeks ago and decided to give it a try. This recipe is by Katie Parla and you can find it here. She lives in Rome where she is a food and travel journalist and you can find her blog here.
There are actually 2 recipes included in the bowl that you see, the Strawberry Sorbet and a Strawberry Soup by Amy Cotler.  

Strawberry Sorbet

• 1 pint strawberries, hulled
• juice from 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (best if from Lazio or anywhere in Central Italy)

*I used Chardonnay that I had in the fridge. The recommended wine may be better, but mine was fine.

Make the sorbet

1. In a bowl, combine strawberries and lemon juice. Stir and set aside.
2. Stir water and sugar together in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Remove the syrup from the heat, let cool to room temperature.
3. Blend the syrup and strawberry mixture in a food processor until smooth.
4. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn until the mixture begins to obtain the consistency of sorbet.
5. Add wine and churn for another 8 minutes. Transfer to a closed container, seal and store in the freezer for at least 2 hours.
6. Serve garnished with fresh strawberries.

I did not use an ice cream maker for my sorbet as not everyone has one. It's really quite easy to do. Combine all the ingredients including the wine. Pour into a shallow baking dish and allow to freeze. Scoop out the mixture and place in a food processor and blend until smooth. Put the mixture back in the shallow dish and freeze once again. After frozen, scoop out and process once more in the food processor. Store in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to serve. 

At the bottom of the post for Katie's sorbet, I saw a post for a Strawberry Soup. We have a Scandinavian restaurant near my home that serves a lovely Blueberry Soup for dessert. It's so good. Since I had the strawberries, I thought I would give this a try. You can find the post here.

Simple Strawberry Yogurt Soup

l quart strawberries, hulled and halved

About l/3 cup confectioners’ sugar or 3 tablespoons local honey

Grated rind of one orange

2/3 cup yogurt

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Slice and set aside about 8 strawberries for garnish. Remove the tops and half the rest of the strawberries.  Toss the halved strawberries with  the sugar or honey, orange rind. Let sit for 15 minutes. Blend in the food processor until smooth.  Whisk in the yogurt and orange juice, adding extra sweetener if needed.

Serve in chilled bowls with sliced berries sprinkled on top.

Note: I found the rind of 1 orange to be a little too much, making the soup just a little bitter. Try using 1/2 of the orange rind and add more to taste, but don't leave it out!!

This "soup"is wonderful over a bowl of berries. I made a Strawberry Cake and served it as a sauce. Wonderful!  If you like strawberries, I think you'll enjoy this recipe and find it quite versatile. 

Hope you're enjoying your summer!